Young Designer of the Year 2006: Jukka Korpihete and Mikko Paakkanen

The recipients of the Young Designer of the Year prize for 2006 were industrial designer Jukka Korpihete and furniture designer Mikko Paakkanen. The prize jury noted that the prize winners’ high-quality work represents innovative young Finnish design combining individual creativity with a language of form reinforced by international influences.

Mikko Paakkanen has designed products that are currently in production and have already received prizes, including furniture. Although the visual idiom of the products is inspired by the present day, they include a classical conception of beauty and harmony. Jukka Korpihete has designed lamps, studied light and engaged in lighting design, for façades and works of art employing light, among other projects. Korpihete’s products are designed in a sensitive and goal-oriented manner. He uses light and shade in the manner of a painter, like an Impressionist painting with light.